How to prepare for the King Edward VI School 11+

The exam at a glance

King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon is a selective boys’ grammar school. The school says that admission to Year 7 is through a selective entrance procedure administered by Warwickshire County Council on the school’s behalf.

For 2028 entry, the confirmed position is that the assessment sits within the Warwickshire 11+ process. However, the exact paper format for 2028 entry is not confirmed in the verified information we hold, and parents should avoid assuming it matches any particular commercial test style. The safest approach is to treat this as a school admission test run through the local authority process, then check the school’s Year 7 admissions page and Warwickshire admissions pages for the latest familiarisation information when your child is in Year 5.

At the moment, the school’s admissions information points families to Warwickshire Admissions for Year 7 entry. That means the practical steps, registration and testing arrangements are likely to be coordinated through the local authority rather than by sending a separate form directly to the school.

What the day looks like can change from year to year, so it is sensible to expect a formal test session arranged as part of the Warwickshire 11+ timetable, with exact timings, venue arrangements and instructions confirmed closer to the test date. If your child is aiming for 2028 entry, rely on the official instructions issued for that cohort rather than older forum posts or second-hand advice.

Registration and key dates

King Edward VI School’s Year 7 admissions page directs parents to Warwickshire Admissions for the entrance process. The school also confirms that the local authority administers the selective procedure on its behalf. In practice, that means parents should expect to register through the Warwickshire admissions process rather than through a separate school-run application route, unless the published guidance for your cohort says otherwise.

For the current published information on the school website, one date is clearly advertised for families planning ahead: the next Open Morning for pupils currently in Year 5 is on Saturday 26 June 2027, from 9.00am to 12 noon. This is useful for families targeting September 2028 entry because it gives you a chance to see the school before the main autumn admissions cycle.

The school’s admissions page does not publish the full 2028 entry registration window, test date or results date at present. Because those dates are not yet confirmed on the sources reviewed, it is best to say simply that parents should watch the Warwickshire admissions pages and the school’s Year 7 admissions page during Year 5.

Who runs registration? Warwickshire County Council admissions, according to the school’s admissions page.
Where to check? The school’s Year 7 admissions page first, then Warwickshire admissions pages linked from it.
What to prepare? Usual admissions details such as your child’s personal details and home address, plus any documents specifically requested in the local authority guidance when the registration window opens.
Open event to note: Open Morning on 26 June 2027 for current Year 5 families.

If you want a simple way to keep track, you can also use Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

For a quick overview page that we update when official information appears, see The King Edward VI School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates).

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

King Edward VI School is a boys’ grammar school, so Year 7 entry is for boys who meet the school’s selective admissions requirements.

The verified catchment point for this school is that its admissions section links to an interactive map from Warwickshire Admissions showing the priority catchment area for Year 7 entry. That matters because grammar school admissions are not only about test performance: where you live, and whether your address falls within the defined priority area, can affect how places are allocated when the school is oversubscribed.

Because catchment boundaries and priority rules can be updated, parents should use the official interactive map and the current admissions arrangements for the relevant intake year rather than relying on older screenshots, estate-agent summaries or parent groups.

The school website reviewed for this guide does not state a published cut-off score, pass mark or distance threshold for entry, and those figures should not be guessed. If you are trying to judge realistic chances, the safest course is to read the latest determined admissions arrangements and any local authority guidance published for your child’s cohort.

Competition for places at selective schools can be strong, so it helps to think about admissions in two parts:

Eligibility through the entrance procedure — your child must sit the relevant test process.
Allocation under the admissions rules — if more eligible children apply than there are places, the oversubscription criteria and catchment priorities are then applied.

That is why it is worth checking both the testing information and the admissions arrangements side by side.

A month-by-month preparation plan

Because the exact 2028 paper format is not yet confirmed, the most sensible preparation is broad, steady and skills-based. The aim in Year 5 is not to over-coach, but to build confidence in careful reading, accurate maths, concentration and working calmly under timed conditions.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light: around 1 to 2 hours a week in short sessions is enough for most children at this stage. Focus on strong Key Stage 2 fundamentals. Read widely, discuss vocabulary naturally, and keep maths methods secure. If your child finds mental arithmetic, fractions, comprehension or spelling patterns difficult, this is the time to shore them up gently.

April to May of Year 5

Increase to 2 hours a week if your child is coping well. Start introducing unfamiliar question styles, but without rushing into heavy timed practice. Work on accuracy first. Children often benefit from learning how to read instructions carefully, skip a sticking point, and return to it later.

June of Year 5

This is a good point to visit the school if you can. The school has published an Open Morning for current Year 5 families on 26 June 2027. Around this stage, move to 2 to 3 hours a week, including one slightly longer session at the weekend. Begin practising sustained concentration: not just getting questions right, but staying calm for a whole paper-length stretch.

July of Year 5

Start using short timed sections rather than full papers if the format is still unconfirmed. Your goal is to build pacing habits without making practice feel relentless. Keep one session each week untimed so your child can reflect on mistakes and correct them properly.

August before Year 6

This is usually the month to become a little more exam-specific once official information and familiarisation materials are available. Aim for 3 to 4 hours a week split across several days. If the local authority publishes guidance or familiarisation material, use that to shape your practice. If it does not, stick to balanced work on reading, reasoning and arithmetic fluency rather than trying to second-guess the exact test.

September of Year 6, before the exam

Keep practice tidy and calm. Two or three focused sessions each week are often better than daily drilling. If your child is doing full timed papers, mark them carefully and review patterns in errors: rushing, misreading, weak arithmetic facts, losing concentration, or spending too long on one item. In the final week, reduce the volume slightly and protect sleep and routine.

A useful rule of thumb is this: accuracy first, timing second, stamina third. Children make the best progress when they learn to work carefully before they work fast.

Subject by subject: what to practise

At present, the tested subjects for 2028 entry are not confirmed in the verified information supplied for this school, and the school’s admissions page reviewed does not publish a detailed subject breakdown. So rather than guessing, use the official admissions information for your cohort when it appears.

Until then, these are the most sensible areas to practise for a selective entry process.

English

Work on careful reading, literal understanding, inference and precise vocabulary. A child preparing well should be able to read a passage without panicking, spot what a question is really asking, and answer from the text rather than from guesswork. Practical home routines help: discuss books, summarise chapters, explain word meanings from context and practise writing clear, complete answers.

If written English is part of the eventual assessment, strong basics matter: punctuation, sentence control, spelling patterns and organising ideas clearly. Even where there is no separate writing paper, these habits support comprehension and overall accuracy.

Mathematics

Keep arithmetic fluent: the four operations, place value, fractions, decimals, percentages, measures and problem solving. The key is not only knowing a method but choosing it quickly and checking whether an answer is sensible. Mental maths practice is especially useful because it supports speed without making children dependent on written working for every step.

Use short mixed sets so your child learns to switch between topics. Many children are comfortable with one topic at a time, but tests are more demanding when question types are mixed.

Reasoning and general problem solving

Where the exact paper style is unknown, broad reasoning preparation is helpful. That means practising pattern-spotting, step-by-step logic, processing information carefully and coping with unfamiliar tasks. Encourage your child to explain how they arrived at an answer. That habit builds flexible thinking and reduces careless mistakes.

If official familiarisation materials later show a clearer breakdown, shift your practice to match that published guidance rather than continuing with a generic approach.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used as a learning tool, not just a score generator. Start with untimed or lightly timed work so your child can understand question types and build confidence. Only move to stricter timing once accuracy is improving.

After every paper, spend longer on the review than on the marking. Ask:

Which questions were genuinely not understood?
Which were answered wrongly because of rushing?
Which topics keep coming up as weak points?
Did your child run out of time because of difficult questions, or because they got stuck too long on one item?

Mocks can be helpful later in the process because they build stamina and make the real day feel more familiar. They are most useful when your child already knows the basics of the likely paper types. If the official format remains unclear, do not overload your child with too many different styles; use a balanced approach and then refine it once official familiarisation material is published.

Useful ElevenReady resources:

A final tip: keep a simple error log. One page divided into topics or mistake types can show progress much more clearly than a pile of marked papers.

On the day

Children usually do best when the day feels predictable. In the week beforehand, avoid dramatic last-minute revision. Focus instead on routine: sleep, breakfast, hydration and knowing what the morning will look like.

Check the official instructions as soon as they arrive and pack anything required the night before.
Plan the journey with a sensible margin for traffic or parking delays.
Give your child a familiar breakfast rather than a special treat that may not sit well.
Keep your tone calm and matter-of-fact. Children take their cue from the adults around them.
Remind them that it is normal not to know every answer immediately.
Encourage simple test habits: listen carefully, read the whole question, move on if stuck, then return if there is time.

The most reassuring message for a child is often the simplest one: do the question in front of you. They do not need to think about cut-offs, rankings or what other children are doing in the room.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

After the test, the next steps are usually: results are issued, parents submit or confirm their school preferences through the local authority process, and places are then allocated on National Offer Day under the published admissions rules. For this school, the local authority has a central role because the school says the selective procedure is administered by Warwickshire County Council on its behalf.

The specific 2028 dates for results and subsequent stages are not yet published in the sources reviewed for this guide, so parents should check the Warwickshire admissions pages and the school’s Year 7 admissions page during Year 6.

It is important to remember that a test result and a school place are not always the same thing. Where a grammar school is oversubscribed, places are allocated according to the admissions rules, including any priority catchment arrangements, not simply by preference alone.

If your child is not offered a place and you believe the admissions criteria were not applied correctly, or that there are strong reasons for admission, there is normally an appeals process. Appeal procedures and deadlines are set out through the admissions system for the relevant year, so use the current official guidance rather than older examples.

What has changed recently

The school’s current Year 7 admissions page confirms that, for families with children currently in Year 5, the next Open Morning will be held on Saturday 26 June 2027 from 9.00am to 12 noon. The same page also links parents to Warwickshire Admissions for Year 7 entry, reinforcing that the local authority administers the selective entrance procedure on the school’s behalf.

Beyond that, no further officially announced recent change to the exam format, test provider, places or catchment for 2028 entry was clearly published in the sources reviewed for this guide.

Frequently asked questions

How do I register for King Edward VI School's 11+?

The school says the selective entrance procedure is administered by Warwickshire County Council on its behalf, so parents should check Warwickshire admissions guidance and the school's Year 7 admissions page for the correct registration route.

Is King Edward VI School's 11+ run by the school or the council?

The school states that the selective entrance procedure is administered by the local authority on the school's behalf.

What is the pass mark for King Edward VI School?

A published pass mark or cut-off score was not stated in the official sources reviewed for this guide. Check the latest admissions information for your child's cohort rather than relying on unofficial figures.

Does catchment matter for King Edward VI School?

Yes. The admissions information links to an interactive Warwickshire Admissions map showing the priority catchment area for Year 7 entry, so parents should check whether their address falls within it.

When should my child start preparing?

For most children, steady preparation from the spring or summer of Year 5 is enough. Start with core English and maths skills, then become more test-specific when official familiarisation information is published.

Are the 2028 exam subjects confirmed yet?

No. The verified information for 2028 entry says the format and tested subjects are not confirmed, so parents should wait for official admissions guidance rather than assuming a particular paper style.

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Sources

King Edward VI School – Year 7 Admissions: The school states that admission to Year 7 is by a selective entrance procedure administered by Warwickshire County Council on the school’s behalf; the page links parents to Warwickshire Admissions for Year 7 entry; the page advertises the next Open Morning for current Year 5 families on Saturday 26
King Edward VI School – Home page: The school is King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire; school context for the guide.
King Edward VI School – Admissions: The admissions section links to Warwickshire Admissions and the priority catchment map for Year 7 entry.

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Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 20 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.